Which Justices authored the majority opinion for Craig v. Boren?

• A. Justice Antonin Scalia
• B. Justice John Paul Stevens
• C. Justice William J. Brennan Jr.
• D. Justice Thurgood Marshall

Answer: (C)

Justice William J. Brennan Jr. wrote the majority opinion in Craig v. Boren, and his ruling established an approach to reviewing gender classifications that has shaped many later equal-protection decisions. In this case the Court struck down an Oklahoma statute that allowed 21-year-old men to buy beer but prohibited 18- to 20-year-old men (while allowing women of 18 and up the same access). Brennan’s majority held that laws differentiating on sex must be substantially related to an important government objective—that is, they must meet heightened scrutiny beyond a mere legitimate purpose.

The reasoning centers on how the state’s justification for the differential treatment was evaluated. Brennan explained that gender-based distinctions cannot be sustained on the same footing as purely neutral classifications without a strong, evidence-backed justification showing the measure substantially serves an important public goal. The Oklahoma statute failed this test because its asserted objective (reducing traffic incidents) was not shown to justify the sex-based difference in drinking age, and the law rested on broad generalizations about men and women rather than on specific, substantial evidence.

This decision is why Craig v. Boren is associated with establishing the heightened scrutiny framework for gender-based classifications, a standard that successive courts used and refined in later cases. Other justices wrote concurring or dissenting opinions, but Brennan authored the controlling majority.